Wednesday Open Forum

Wednesday, the best day of the week, new comic book day. It is like your birthday in the middle of each week (well, one where you buy your own presents.)
We open things up to hear from you. A free for all.
The 185th edition of the open forum!
As always we also want to hear about your weekly pickups.
So, What were your pick ups?
What had disappeared off the shelves?
What was sitting on the shelves?
What back issue deals did you grab?

Second that. I’m getting a blank Venom for Cates and for Stegman, who’s coming to a show in my town, but that’s it! If I ever catch up on my reading, I’d rather just subscribe to the Marvel App. Marvel is spec or flip only for me now.

I don’t get it. The more covers, the more collectible they are right? The more limited print runs attract collectors and boost the market I would think.
Is this a negative perception based on an emotional response? Or is there a negative impact on the market for a speculator?

The more covers the more it muddies the water of any spec sure you will still have Dell Otto fans, JSC fans, AH fans, Mattina fans etc buying the store variants but with so many covers what’s the spec angle? Hope you buy the right cover that goes for above retail?Not only do you have to pick the right book but now with Books with 20+ covers you have to pick the right cover, that’s like adding an extra number to the lottery. What happens 99% of the time is they all end up pretty much worthless maybe one or two store variants catch some extra money and fizzle out in a year. If I had a nickel for every time someone asks why Thanos #13 lenticular goes for retail while cover a goes for $70-$100 I would have about $3.50 lol and that only had 5 covers. So unless ASM #800 has Thor’s Venomized Red goblinized Cosmic Lightning penis 50 or so of those 52 covers won’t be worth the high cover price of issue #800 to begin with. Imagine if there were 52 covers for ASM #300 how would that reflect today in its pricing.

If you are familiar with the Qualifications shops are required to follow in order to get the Variants, it’s nothing more than a way to beef up well beyond real demand, ordering of the base comic used for obtaining the variant .. one of the reasons for the slow market shops are currently in is Marvel’s over-reliance on reboots, variant covers, etc .. I.E. :: Alex Ross Virgin Variant :: YOU MAY ORDER 1 VARIANT FOR EVERY 500 COPIES YOU PURCHASE

In addition, Shops that buy into the Variant Chase game must rely on Variants bringing good money in order to defray their costs of buying the “Regular” version, which is likely to be in way over-supply .. this can and has in the past, created financial issues eventually .. Marvel apparently did not learn from the lessons of the Past .. lastly, long term potential as far as investment goes, is out the window ..

And most of those Iron Man covers are just the same cover but different Iron Man suit from over the ages. Such a total cash grab. I’m pretty sure everyone knows a future avoid pick, shit like that makes it an easy pick. 😉

That is pure insanity. Disney is quite overtly ruthless despite being a ‘family’ company. Craziness. Im buying 1 copy of cover A for a reader. All my chips are in on Fraggle Rock and Scoobie Apocalypse this week. That B cover for Tec is pretty sweet too.

You’re already seeing prices of $5.00 (50% off cover) on eBay for ASM 800….that is a clear indication of how many copies of this book are going to be floating around out there soon. I’ve cut my orders a lot just based on the sheer madness of the amount of variant covers available.

I would too at that buy in. I actively searched for one today, but only found the one for $25. However, I did grab a Venomized #5 1:25 Sandoval for $45 CDN ($37 US), and a Venom #1 Rivera for $9 CDN. After last week, I thought I missed my opportunity for that Sandoval 1:25. Clapton was looking down on me today.

Stopped by a shop on my way to an appointment and they had the Exiles 1:10 on the rack for cover price. In Vf+/NM- condition, but for $4 I had to get it. Only one I saw in 5 different stores in the last 2 days.

Picking up this week:
Monstress 16
Southern Bastards 20
Maybe:
Isola 2 (I just picked up #1 but haven’t read it yet. My lcs still has a stack of both #1 covers.)
Notes:
Just got charged by CGC for slabbing my Love & Rockets 1 B&W, so it should be coming back soon. Sucks not be able to track it, but I used a lcs account. CGC’s free account does not allow you to mail in books.
Disappointed in the results of my eBay auction of Spawn 283 Image Expo color variant. There were a couple of sales around $200 for non-signed books, so I figured it was time to sell my Todd signed book. But, the auction brought in only $76.00. Being limited to 400 copies, I wonder if non-signed copies just tend to bring in more money. Wish I had picked up the “left-over” stack of non-signed books Image was selling at the Expo for $10/copy.

I hope you all had a great FCBD!
Mine was a busy day, so I really didnt get to see everything the shops I went to had to offer but I still think I did ok.
I grabbed all of the book I wanted and even a few more because they let me take them. Hey, you never know which one will be hard to come by!
I also finished my set of Snyder’s Batman TPB’s and got the X-Force Deadpool and the new Cable Marvel Legend Figures.
Today I am getting:
Barrier #1 (Got the FCBD but want to support. Too bad it’s half Spanish and having to use Google Translate really breaks the flow of the book. Dumb idea BKV!)
Barrier #2
Batman: White Knight #8
Detective Comics #980
Justice League: No Justice #1
Oblivion Song #3
Outcast #35
Spectacular Spider-Man #304
Spider-man/Deadpool #32
Darth Vader #16
Despicable Deadpool #300
Flash #46 – Mattina Variant
Venom #1

Yeah, but I’m sure you actually know the language. It’s super annoying having to run it through the translator. Im still buying them, but I wish they had translation pages in the back. Or just use and in the fine print put *translated from Spanish*.

Haha… Nice. I just use calendar on Google. Got way too much going on that others need access too as well. I just kind of get the feeling people who still use calendars are the same who ship out the check book to pay…. 😉

Well, to be truthful. The Calender is on the wall, but nothing has been written on it in a few months. I just looked at it, and it is still on March, and I have the Toronto Comic Con date as the last entry. March 18th, 2018. Cant wait. ?

Comment on FCBD :: Shops do actually pay for those books, and they must order minimum quantities .. so, when FCBD rolls around, it’s always a good gesture to buy something .. I have folks that come in and just collect the free books and go, never to be seen again .. (until next year) .. while I don’t offer up any “attitude” towards them, I think many believe shops get the books for free ..

I recently asked my LCS owner about it back when he was opening up the diamond boxes for em. I thought maybe he only had to pay for shipping but nope he pays for the books and shipping and he is forced by diamond to do so. Amazing big companies like DC and Marvel pass the free of free comic book day on to shop owners forcing them to give out free stuff and not the publishers. Shop owners must unite and unionize against the tyranny of diamond and it’s publishers.

There used to be a Company called Capital City .. 😉 .. so, Mr Geppi had a good quality Competitor .. also, early on, FCBD was, in fact, free for Retailers, if my memory serves ..
On a side note, I had a guy come in a few weeks ago with a long box full of FCBD books from over the years, which he had gotten from me .. and wanted to know what I’d pay for them ..

I’m pretty sure they’re significantly cheaper than regular comics, but yes, the shops pay for them. Always make sure to buy at least something small on FCBD! The trick is to just put off the purchase of something you were already going to get and then get it at a discount!

Comic shops don’t have to participate in FCBD. Put it is in their best interest to do so. Also, sure marvel, DC and the rest could give them books for free, but that costs them money too…and guess how they’re going to get it back? Upping the price to aquire their monthly comics. So either way it comes back to the poor comic shop who pays.
And if they did offer them free of charge, how do they limit the amount any shop orders? The shop that’s in some dark alley should t get the same number as a mega store. That would have to be regulated liked by the previous years sales through diamond.
So free comics do not appear out of thin air without costs. And really the help bring in customers to shops and they benefit from addition revenues mostly.
So if you really feel bad for the local shops flipping the bill on FCBD, then buy some of their regular stock and help them out, because that’s ultimately what they’re looking to get out of it by participating.

Personally, I don’t think a tiny slice of the Profit from a Comic Movie by Marvel or DC would be out of the question in order to support FCBD and make it actually free for the Retailer .. as far as how much each shop gets, Diamond already has an equation for allocated goods based on LCS regular ordering patterns ..
Shops for the last couple years have not exactly been goldmines, profit wise .. the Market for books is down .. throw in unsold material, etc ..
I just don’t want to see another Bloodbath like the mid-90’s .. I’m 73 / still use a checkbook and a calendar 😉 // own my building outright // so, I’ll do OK, just like I always have .. other LCS will not fare so well ..

I knew this. I figured it’s a way to drive in customers by offering free books. Most shops seem to have big sales on such days. So yes, I can see a majority of people there to just get their free comics, I’d hope the sales to most local shops are above average from their normal Saturday traffic. If it’s not, perhaps a shop owner needs to come up with a new strategy to boost sales on FCBD when they choose to participate.
As for me, I skipped this year. It wasn’t worth my actual time to get up, wait and stand in line to grab the 1 or 2 books I’d be interested in.
As for buying something to help support the local shop, well, I wouldn’t feel so obligated to buy something when I do show up for FCBD since I support them every Wednesday already.

I hit up multiple shops each year and I make a point of purchasing at two of the three because I don’t buy from them weekly. The only reason I bought anything at my usual shop this year was because I was going to make the purchase anyway, I just waited a week and a half for the discount.

Got a Venom #1, no variants at the shops I hit up, same with Exiles #3 though I did find the Exiles #2 variant for cover and the Cosmic Redneck variant.
Thrift store score, (bagged and boarded thankfully) for $1 each:
Deadly Class #1-4
Southern Bastards #1
Twelve Reasons To Die #1 tour edition signed by Ghostface Killah (ltd to 150)

I wanted to say that Primus is the shit. Although I grew up in the 90s, I had never listened to them. I knew WBBB from MTV, but always thought it was a joke song done by Primus, whos sound I thought was a lot heavier than it actually is. I DL a bunch of their tunes this week and have fallen in love with Les Claypools funky ass slap bass. That shit is so funky, I absolutely love it. Anyone who reads this and is unfamiliar with Les Claypool and Primus, and if you love funky bass riffs, do yourself a huge favour and check out their catalogues. Claypool might be the best Bassist ever. Long live Geezer. ??

Im not sure to be honest. I listened to 60s and 70s rock during Primus’ prime. Big Sabbath fan, Ozzy years. My ear got a bit harder as time has progressed. I thought they were much heavier, thrashy metal type. I suppose i just wrote them off early in my life, based on incorrect assumptions (tsk tsk). I should have put 2 n 2 together with WBBB and the Southpark theme., but never did. Les worked with T.Waits. How I never came across them is beyond me. Just one of those things i suppose. Im very happy ive discovered them now though. Instantly on my top ten list of fav bands.

You ever just feel like re baggin and boardin your PC? Get them really organized. That might be my goal by end of this year. There’s something about putting an older bagged comic in a new bag that just makes it POP!

All my personal books are in uniform bags and boards. Every new comic added gets a brand new board and bag. Old bags and boards are used to ship books to buyers. Expensive books ($50-$60+) get a mylar archival bag and a full back. I also have switched to short boxes instead of long. With the uniform bags and boards, when you open your box, it looks sweet. I think it may help with preventing spine roll too. And your fingers dont feel ‘dirty’ after flipping through the box. I use 6 7/8” bags and buy oversized boards and use a paper cutter to trim my boards 1/32” shorter than the width of the bags. Nice, snug & pleasing to the eye.

I too switched to short boxes. So much easier to pick up.
I use Midtown bags and boards to ship stuff I sell as well. If the boards are in good condition I’ll pull those out on some and use new bags for new books not being sold right away. My only costs for comic storage are in the past 3 years have been: BCW Current bags, Mylar Bags + Full Backs and Short Boxes (which Short boxes I have not bought in over a year since the overall collection now is getting smaller rather than larger).

Smaller week than usual.
Pick ups:
Scooby Apocalypse (Cover A and Cover B X2)
Southern Bastards (holy cow this has been a couple of issues all within the same year! Can’t believe this was solicited back in March 2017)
Darth Vader
Venom (1:25 variant for $6)
Spec pick ups for the week:
Thanos #12 (last Lemire) for $3
Invincible #144 (variant) for $1
Big find of the week was a Venomized #5 Sandoval Spidey homage for $6. Couldn’t believe it, sold it within 1 hour for $71. Score!
Good hunting!

One thing I’ve noticed about CHU, is that they don’t research and publish speculation on first appearances. For example, the Moon Girl first appearance of the Omnipotents. The most recent Cyborg first appearance and Thanos #13 Cosmic Ghost Rider.
Beyond that, the first appearances in Sideways #2, Analog #2, etc…
Ya’ll really aren’t first appearance experts and that’s okay, you’re doing better than me. But there’s a lot of energy in one breath toward variants, and then in the comments saying how the variants suck (unless their lovely or whatever yanks yer chain).
As a consumer and a fan, I wish you had a handle on first appearances because that is less subjective than cover art.

We do tons of stuff on first appearances. Did you happen to see the Venom spoilers talking about multiple first appearances? I am sure I can dig out other ones but that was the most recent. To be honest, there are so many different angles to spec from.
We are always looking for people to help out. The big difference between us and a lot of the groups, is that there are hundreds of people posting stuff up, stories from other sites, and things like that to contribute to the greater good. We are not set up like a Facebook or a G+ group. But if anyone wants to pitch in we are glad to get additional contributors.

I don’t have any privy information. But if you want to do it via Webex, yeah, I’m in. We can compile a list of all first appearances for the week ranked in order. It would take a team of people, split up the books, read 5 of them each and compile the list. Something like this:
1. Buckwheat #1 (first appearance of a lamppost).
2. Stubby and Stiltwalker #5 (first appearance of Razor Claw the Maimer).
3. Fantastic Beer Buddies #2000 (death of Overdrawn Tap Bubbles).
4. Milk Chuggin Fools #1 (first appearance of Milk O’Chuggin’ Fool).

James, can I assume that you bought at least one comic book this week….maybe more than that, but at least one? I can almost guarantee you that whatever book you purchased has a “first” appearance in it. Maybe it’s a shadowed dude hiding behind a lamp post or someone who served some coffee….or was a side pedestrian….or…whatever. 1st appearances are almost everywhere and that’s no secret. Sideways #2 is available for well less than cover price almost everywhere…so I am not sure what’s irking you. Are you looking for the skinny on books that are cover price, but will become $50-$75 flips in a short period of time? What’s the spoop….what are you really asking for here?

Yeah… I’m confused on the goal here as well.
Spec’ing or pointing out a first appearance on a book like Analog that is basically a new ongoing series from Image and only on issue #2 would be pretty silly thing to waste time on when the series hasn’t even really established itself yet with readers and followers.
Like Vann said, every book has the potential for new characters.

Good points, thanks. What it comes down to is that I am frustrated that I missed three of the best spec books this year. I’m not sure how I missed it, I need to have a better understanding of the format of this web site so I can find those references. Totally missed them somehow. And then I get snarky about it, wish I had that one back.

If it wasn’t for CHU, I wouldn’t have grabbed Teen Titans 12, Thanos 13/15, ASM 795 to name a few. Because of contributors like Alana I’ve made decent $$$ on first appearance back issues which have enabled me to aquire some bronze keys. I get lots of great spec/first app scoops here. Keep up the great work guys and gals.

Agreed. I have this site to thank for being able to grab a few copies of great spec issues including Teen Titans #12… just had them graded, one was 9.6 and the other 9.8 which is staying in the PC. So thank you to the website and its contributors for the helpful information!

I do agree with you James on 1st appearances over cover art. All I generally collect is first appearances. A lot of modern stuff first appearances gets covered here if it doesn’t have it’s own article it’s most likely discussed in a comments section some where like Thanos #13 was discussed in a comment section and that’s how I knew to stack my LCS and hey Cosmic Ghostrider helped pay for my husbands new car all because I read the comments that day. I do think CHU could do better covering weekly New first appearances and if that’s something anyone here or you James are good at please write an article and send it to Anthony. For the most part Anthony is a one man show and has a family life to deal with as well, 6 or 7 of us contribute here and there but the more the merrier. The thing CHU does better then any other comic site is Anthony is a beast when it comes to independents, Books most of us have never heard of and get optioned. A lot of that information will be found here first. I try to stay up on the movie and tv specs with my write ups, if you’ve read my articles in the past couple years you will find that I have a pretty good track record not perfect for getting Movie and Tv Specs first sometimes a whole year before you’ll see it on any other sites. Like Luke Cage season 2 Bushmaster I had the casting call for that in April of 2017 in my article calling all bushmasters.

When I first discovered CHU a few years ago, I went through and read every comment section in every Wednesday Forum. I made notes of all the spec, 1st Thane comes to mind, and those notes from those comment sections is what propelled my spec game up like 1000 notches. I owe the CHU community a lot in terms of my flipping success over the last 24-30 months. I take part in a few spec communities, buy CHU is by far my favourite and is what i consider my home.

CHU has a ton of great spec info. And it is typically delivered in a very neutral way. CHU/Alana constantly talk about 1sts and other spec angles. If you want spec on 1sts, then go get a stack of Avengers 675 – 679. Those books have a bunch of ‘1sts’ including Challenger, Voyager and the Lethal Legion.

Most recently I wanted to buy Blackfires 1st appearance because she has her own toys and statues now that she’s on DC Super Hero Girlls, after looking at the covers for her first cameo and full appearance realize I already have 6 copies of each thanks to a comment a year ago from OC_Guy and Jason Shaw.

Its tough because CHU is a one man show for the most part, we try to get as much info out as possible. But with life, I am married, have two kids, work full time, coach baseball, and do CHU, it is hard to get everything up all the time. More full time employees is what we need, lol.

Dang, it was on their Facebook page, but I don’t think they promoted it outside of it. I got there around 4:45pm and it was empty! Apparently I had just missed the line wrapping around. Talked to him for a few minutes. Said he has 7 arcs already planned out. This is gonna be his baby.

I dont do facebook anymore. Yeah, surprisingly when he was signing God Country at Dragons Lair, no one was there. I talked 18 wheelers (our dads drove them) with him and Texas tidbits for like 20-30 minutes.

What is hilarious is that I have gotten pretty much every notable book from the last twenty years doing something as simple as reading the comics…if you truly enjoy comics and build your collection naturally you will always be on top. I have most modern copper and bronze grails…all for cover price plus 25 percent subscription discount. Walking dead 1-current all for cover. 1st deadpool cover. 1st x23 cover. Harley cover. Do your own research. Love the hobby.

I have a question for the community. I made a little money off of selling some Star Wars action figures and wanted to make a big comic purchase, preferably graded. Would it be a better long term investment to go after a low grade Action Comics 252 or a mid grade House of Secrets 92? Or is there another comic that would be a better investment in the $700-$1000 range? I’m open to suggestions

Hi Tyler in the $700-$1000 Hulk #181, ASM #129, Are good bets, from your two choices above looks like your more a DC fan BA #12 is in your range. Showcase #30 1st Aquaman might be found as well or a low grader showcase #22. Maybe a few different Bat key books instead of one book like 1st Poison Ivy, 1st Batgirl and Ras Al Ghul. I would go with Action #252 just because I don’t have it, House Of Secrets I own paid $60 free shipping for a 6.0 PGX 7 years or so ago

Thanks for the reply Alana. I can actually say that in my collecting career, I have been very fortunate to already own most of the issues you are suggesting. I hope that means I’m doing something right! I have been leaning towards the Action 252 because it’s the first appearance of 2 main characters, and would basically complete the attainable Superman keys for me, as I have Action 242, Superboy 68, and the Darkseid books.